January 25, 2023
Page 9
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o piNioN
Disgracing the Dream
By Wim Laven
The third Monday of January is cele-
brated as a national holiday to honor the
memory of the Reverend Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King Jr., a man whose legacy is larg-
er than life and whose work benefitted all
of humanity.
Yes, he led the successful struggles
that achieved landmark civil rights and
voting rights legislation.
But his deeper legacy is to show hu-
mankind a more evolved way to manage
conflict. He led a minority of oppressed,
disenfranchised, impoverished Ameri-
cans living in former slave states to free-
dom, not with the sword, but with mil-
itant love, an advanced form of conflict
transformation that taught the world les-
sons even beyond the great Gandhi.
King’s life was cut short and there is
great sadness that the racist forces he
worked so hard to oppose live on. Most
insidiously the normalization of dishon-
esty and the abundant gaslighting in Re-
publican politics have allowed his work
to be whitewashed with little resistance.
He is now routinely quoted by the peo-
ple promoting legislation and policy he
would condemn.
The racism of 2023 is both the con-
tinuation of a long legacy of American
white supremacy but also the denial that
racism even exists. It is mind boggling
to place remembrance and renewal of
King’s vision into the political drama of
our times.
In the unprecedented 15 ballots re-
quired to elect Kevin McCarthy as
Speaker of House we saw the worst of
what conservatives represent and the
ahistorical denial of inequality and threat
posed by prejudice.
Wim Laven
McCarthy, a fierce advocate for sani-
tizing history and critic of teaching actu-
al history, has said, “Critical race theory
goes against everything Martin Luther
King has ever told us, don’t judge us by
the color of our skin.”
Critical race theory is the idea that
race relations have been a profoundly op-
pressive part of US history. This includes
teaching that the Three Fifths Compro-
mise, made in the 1787 Constitutional
Convention, which said that three out of
every five slaves would be counted in the
population so that more representation
and federal funding would go to slave
states--despite slaves have zero rights,
despite their status as mere property.
Without this ungodly compromise it is
certain the Constitution would not have
been ratified.
John James, African American newly
elected Republican Congressman from
Michigan, said during the Speaker nom-
ination debacle, “Our nation has made
a lot of progress. That includes families
like mine. My family has gone from slave
to right here since 1856.” With stagger-
ing hypocrisy, James nominates a person
who does not believe the history of slav-
ery or Jim Crow segregation should be
taught in schools.
Black Americans, in general, are quite
aware that Republicans will suppress their
votes, will oppose funding social uplift
programs in black communities, and will
look the other way when polluters make
their children sick. Republicans woo some
with enticing promises to include some
of them in an American material success
elite, but black Americans, in very high
percentages, continue to vote for what
they know to be a better bet.
Martin Luther King Jr. met with John
Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, two Dem-
ocrats who got the Civil Rights Act and
Voting Rights Act promoted and passed.
Republicans since Richard Nixon have
increasingly become the party of rolling
back those rights.
Martin Luther King Jr. knew of threats
against his life and nonetheless traveled to
Memphis to support sanitation workers in
their quest for workers’ rights. In his last
speech he said, “I may not get there with
you.” But it is important to remember
what nonviolent direct action he promot-
ed, strategic economic withdrawal:
“We are asking you tonight, to go
out and tell your neighbors not to buy
Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell
them not to buy Sealtest milk […] up to
now, only the garbage men have been
feeling pain; now we must kind of redis-
tribute the pain. We are choosing these
companies because they haven’t been
fair in their hiring policies; and we are
choosing them because they can begin
the process of saying, they are going to
support the needs and the rights of these
men who are on strike.”
King’s words were specifically tacti-
cal mixed with soaring inspiration. King
critiqued capitalism, war, and poverty in
the midst of wealth; he called for the re-
distribution of financial excess, a guar-
anteed income, and came out against the
Vietnam War.
Republicans love to cherry-pick from
King’s 1963 speech: “I have a dream
that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character.”
But these Republicans keep insist-
ing that we cannot teach the rest of the
speech; King knew struggle “we’ve
come here today to dramatize a shame-
ful condition” ... “Now is the time to rise
from the dark and desolate valley of seg-
regation to the sunlit path of racial jus-
tice” and “We cannot be satisfied as long
as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a
smaller ghetto to a larger one.”
It would be nice if the misleading
lip service could be replaced with
work towards the visions. Legislation
for affordable housing, living wages,
access to entitlements, and real eco-
nomic integration could be the work
of Speaker Kevin McCarthy; King’s
Dream could be honored, but instead
we move closer to banning his real
message and reversing the justice he
and his movement achieved.
f ood
Southern Soul Food Collard Greens
Collard greens are the essential dish of
any Southern soul food dinner. As far as
nutritional benefits are concerned, it is an
excellent source of calcium surprisingly
more than cow’s milk per serving! Col-
lards are an excellent food option for keto
as well.
Ingredients:
•
•
•
•
•
2 pounds ( about 3 bundles) of col-
lard greens
2 pre-cooked smoked turkey leg
(optional)
1 cup of yellow onion, diced
2 cups of tomatoes, diced
4 cups of chicken stock (vegetable
stock can be used for vegetarian
option)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1 tablespoon of apple cider vine-
gar
3 tablespoons of Worcestershire
sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon of hot sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
(Cajun or Creole seasoning ok)
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
•
•
•
•
•
Instructions:
•
•
Clean the collard greens and cut
off the stems.
Then roughly chop the leaves in
half through the midline and then
into bite-sized pieces.
•
•
Add the wet ingredients to instant
pot
Add the onion, tomatoes, garlic,
Old Bay or Cajun seasoning, red
pepper flakes, pepper, salt, and stir
to combine the ingredients.
Add the collard greens, followed
by the cooked turkey leg(if using).
Press down to sink the greens as
much as you can into the liquid
broth.
Close the Instant Pot lid and pres-
sure cook on high for 15 minutes.
When the cooking time is finished,
allow a natural pressure release for
at least 15 minutes.
Serve collard greens right away
and enjoy!